Darren collaborates with Malaysian pop singer Nik Qistina

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – Darren Espanto has teamed up with Malaysian pop singer Nik Qistina for a stripped down version of her song, “Young Hearts.”

The song, originally produced by Kieran Kuek of Universal Music Publishing, initially took the Internet by storm, and has gathered more than 932,000 plays on Spotify, and 525,000 views in total on Qistina’s VEVO channel.

“Who doesn’t love a good acoustic song? I just felt the need to release an acoustic version of ‘Young Hearts’ with someone who appreciates the song and I was honored to find out that Darren Espanto vibe to ‘Young Hearts’ the same way I do,” she said in a statement.

Qistina said she knew Espanto would be a perfect duet partner for the acoustic version of “Young Hearts” after she heard his breakthrough track “Stuck.”

Espanto, on the other hand, said this new collaboration is something out of the box.

“I’m used to always belting and keeping the energy high, but with this song I got to show my more chill yet powerful side,” he said.

Lyrically, “Young Hearts” is a coming-of-age anthem, focusing on the teenage struggle of looking for love in all the wrong places, getting to know yourself, and understanding that there are better and bigger things out there.